Slipping in polls, Romney assures voters, ‘I care'

WESTERVILLE, Ohio Slipping in states that could sink his presidential bid, Republican Mitt Romney declared Wednesday that “I care about the people of America” and can do more than President Barack Obama to improve their lives. In an all-day Ohio duel, Obama scoffed that a challenger who calls half the nation “victims” was unlikely to be of much help.

Romney's approach reflected what he is up against: a widening Obama lead in polls in key states such as Ohio, backlash from a leaked video in which he disparages Obama supporters as government-dependent people who see themselves as victims.

With a week before the first big debate, Obama's campaign reveled in the latest public polling – but tried to crush any sense of overconfidence. “If we need to pass out horse blinders to all of our staff, we will do that,” said campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

Romney, eager to project confidence, went after working-class voters outside Columbus and Cleveland before rolling to Toledo. Obama rallied college crowds at Bowling Green State University and Kent State University, reminding Ohioans their state allows them to start to cast ballots next week. Early voting has already begun in more than two dozen other states.

For Romney, in his appearances and in a new TV ad in which he appeals straight to the camera, it was time for plain talk to contrast himself with Obama, and to mince no words about his expectations.

“There are so many people in our country who are hurting right now. I want to help them. I know what it takes,” he told the crowd in Westerville. “I care about the people of America, and the difference between me and Barack Obama is I know what to do.”

Asked in an interview about his ability to empathize with ordinary Americans, Romney cited the health care law he championed while governor of Massachusetts. It's a topic Romney usually doesn't raise because Obama cites the initiative as the basis for his own health care overhaul. Romney has vowed to repeal Obama's law and replace it if elected.

“Don't forget – I got everybody in my state insured,” Romney told NBC News while in Toledo. “One hundred percent of the kids in our state had health insurance. I don't think there's anything that shows more empathy and care about the people of this country than that kind of record.”

That message so late in the campaign – a presidential nominee declaring his concern for all the people of the country – was part of his widening effort to rebound from his caught-on-video comments at a fundraiser.

In those comments, made last May but only recently revealed, Romney said “47 percent of the people” pay no federal income tax, will vote for Obama no matter what, see themselves as victims, think the government must care for them and do not “take personal responsibility and care for their lives.”

Two polls in Ohio show the president crossing the 50 percent mark among likely voters. A Washington Post poll found Obama ahead 52 percent to 44 percent among those most likely to turn out, and a Quinnipiac University/CBS News/New York Times poll showed a 10-point Obama lead among definite voters.

Noting anew the Romney video comments, Obama said Wednesday: “We understand that America is not about what can be done for us. It's about what can be done by us together, as one nation, as one people.”

And he added: “You can't make it happen if you write off half the nation before you take office.”

Romney was showing signs of picking up his pace, and he did not mince words about his expectations.

“Were we to re-elect President Obama there is no question in my mind we'd face four more difficult years,” he said. “If, instead I – no, instead, when I become president, we're going to get this economy growing again, we're going to do the things that ignite this economy.”

Romney scheduled a blizzard of interviews with ABC, CBS and NBC, his second round of broadcast network appearances in three days after weeks of ignoring their requests. He also did interviews Tuesday with Fox News and CNN.

“I'm very pleased with some polls, less so with other polls,” he told ABC. “But frankly, at this early stage, polls go up, polls go down.”

The new Romney TV ad, at 60 seconds, is a longer and softer approach in which he speaks about people struggling to pay for food and gas with falling incomes.

At one point Wednesday, the two candidates spoke from different sections of northern Ohio at the same time.

At a factory in Bedford Heights, Romney spoke as machines whirred in the background. He appeared with Mike Rowe, an everyman TV personality and pitchman.

Obama appeared at two packed college basketball arenas, delivering his message first to a boisterous crowd of more than 5,000 at Bowling Green and then to 6,000 screaming supporters at Kent State.

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